Yangzhou City, the history of this ancient city can be traced back to 486 B.C., due to the convenient transportation and fertile water and soil, to the Apocalypse, the city has developed into a large city with a population of 800,000, due to the unique geographical location of Yangzhou, so since ancient times there is a saying that "the waist is wrapped around 100,000 cranes to ride down Yangzhou", which shows the prosperity of Yangzhou.

The city's economic pillars were textiles, salt sales, and shipping, and the most famous of them were the salt merchants, and the most powerful were the salt merchants.

No matter which dynasty implements the monopoly system for the salt industry, the Ming Dynasty implements the "gang salt system", the merchants who hold the salt quote are divided into 10 classes according to the region, each gang salt quote is 200,000 leads, each lead is 300 catties of salt, or six coins and four cents of silver, called "woben", and the tax is three taels of silver, and the minister (transportation) is three taels of silver. Named after "Shengde is over the ages, the emperor has nine enclosures", those who have not entered the program have no right to operate the salt industry.

If a merchant wanted to sell salt legally, he had to first obtain salt from the government yamen. Merchants used salt to bring salt to the salt field to support salt, and then went to the designated salt sales area to sell salt.

On the surface, this policy seems to be effective and very good, both overall planning and reasonable allocation of resources, both the court and merchants have benefited, and it seems to be harmonious, but the actual implementation is full of loopholes.

Is salt worth a lot? It is indeed very valuable, today's coarse salt costs three dollars of silver for a catty, and it is about fifty yuan in later generations, if this price is put in the future generations, it is estimated that the people will not hesitate to rebel, right? But it's so expensive, and since it's a necessity, you can't eat it.

But you say that salt is worth a lot of money, but it is not very valuable, you must know that the sea is an inexhaustible treasure house, as long as the seawater mark is brought ashore, after the sun is exposed to the salt of the white flowers will come out, the cost of producing a pound of salt is only a few pennies, but when these salt into the hands of the people, it becomes three dollars of silver, and there are nearly a hundred times the windfall profits in the middle, such violence even if the drug dealers of later generations see it will be ashamed of themselves.

Why is there such a big disparity in the price of salt? In fact, it is very simple to say, because the silver was earned by the salt merchants and the yamen at all levels of the imperial court. Salt merchants spend a lot of money to buy salt, naturally they have to double the earnings, and the government yamen at all levels naturally have to set up layers of cards and geese to pluck the benefits in order to make extra money, so the price of salt is naturally ridiculously high.

The production and sales process of salt can be called a feast, in this feast, the government and salt merchants at all levels have reaped enough benefits and eaten a lot of money, but the court did not get the slightest benefit, everyone seems to suffer from amnesia, leaving behind the court and the emperor they are loyal to, they don't care whether your emperor and the court have money or not, as long as they have money to spend all day and wine.

In the south of the Yangtze River, those salt merchants with a net worth of tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands can only be called small shrimp at best, hundreds of thousands of silver can only be regarded as ordinary, and it is not uncommon to have a net worth of millions of taels of silver.

Yangzhou is a very prosperous country with a commercial atmosphere, the commercial trade here is mainly divided into textile, shipping and salt merchants, among which the salt merchants are the most wealthy and arrogant, the people of Yangzhou will be the most powerful eight salt merchants called Yangzhou eight families, respectively, He, Lu, Shi, Zhang, Yan, Shi, Wei, Yu Bajia.

On May 20th, today is the 60th birthday of the old man of the He family, the largest salt merchant in Yangzhou. The people of the He family are not stingy, today they set up a total of 300 tables of banquets in the He family to entertain the guests who came to congratulate, the banquet has been lined up outside the He Mansion, and when the Yangzhou prefect Gao Yannian arrived, the whole banquet reached a climax.

In a quiet small living room in the backyard of the He family, the old man of the He family is entertaining more than ten guests who came to celebrate his birthday.

Although Old Man He is sixty years old, because of his fine clothes and jade food and good health, he still looks ruddy and full of temperament when he speaks.

Looking at the guests sitting around him, Old Man He took a sip of the health ginseng tea specially brewed for him, put down the teacup, and then said: "Everyone, today is the old man's 60th birthday, you can come to He Mansion to congratulate the old man, the old man is really grateful, but I don't know if you all pour into the old man's backyard and don't know what to see?" ”

Seeing Old Man He's breezy appearance, the people sitting around couldn't help but curse the old fox in unison. It's just that although everyone knew that this old guy was pretending to be confused, no one dared to show any dissatisfaction.

You must know that although the old man in front of him has never been an official, he also has a reputation for making a name for himself. In addition, two of its three sons have entered the office, and its eldest son is in the official department known as the "heavenly official" in the capital, so today's He family can be said to have money and power in Yangzhou, and even the Yangzhou prefect has to let them have three points.

Watching Old Man He pick up the ginseng tea again and slowly look at the ginseng slices floating on the water in the teacup, a middle-aged fat man with a fat face said with a smile on his face: "Old Man He, it stands to reason that today is a big day for your old man, and these little nephews should not disturb you with those mundane things anyway, but because of the big stakes, the little nephew and others really have no choice but to come over to disturb you." You also know that the day before yesterday, the Daming Royal Commercial House also began to put its hands into our bowls, three coins of silver and a pound of refined salt, this is to force the big guy to death! ”

A middle-aged man on the side who was facing gloom also said in a deep voice: "Yes, old man He, as the so-called state-owned country has national laws and family rules, we must have rules for selling salt." We all know that the Daming Royal Commercial Bank is Jiang Ningbo's tool for collecting money, originally they wanted to be included in this circle, let's share a bowl of rice and it doesn't matter, but now he is no longer so simple as grabbing food to eat, he is going to smash our rice bowl! ”

The fat man before nodded and said: "Yes, what Master Wei said is right, Jiang Ningbo has no problem if he wants to enter the market to earn money, but he shouldn't smash our jobs, let alone him, even if it's the king of heaven." ”

"Having said that, but Jiang Ningbo is not easy to mess with, I heard that he killed the Tartars in Liaodong, he is a ruthless master, if we want to deal with him, we have to think long-term!" A middle-aged man in a pale green silk robe said with a worried face.

"Old saying, you are just too timid, and you are afraid to do anything, no wonder you have fewer and fewer salt attractors over the years." The middle-aged man surnamed Wei glanced at the other party and said disdainfully.

"I ......"

The person who was ridiculed was the head of the Yan family, named Yan Lanmin, whose name was somewhat feminine, and he was also very cautious, and he was never very liked by the people present.

After a while, Lan Min blushed and said, "Wei Wenbao, don't just talk about me, if you really have the guts, why don't you snatch that royal trading house?" Over the years, the royal trading house has not made too many good things, glass, rouge gouache, soaphorn and shampoo have been sold all over the Jiangnan, and Jinshan Yinshan has earned more silver, and I haven't seen you dare to touch a cold hair! ”

Wei Wenbao slapped the case and pointed at Yan Lanmin and shouted: "The surname is Yan, what do you mean?" Do you think your business is too good? ”

"Enough ......"

When the two were arguing, the old man of the He family finally spoke.

"What are you arguing about, can't it be that you can solve the problem by arguing alone? The Royal Comptoir is aggressive outside, and you don't think about it, but you quarrel here, and the old man blushes for you. ”

The old man of the He family deserved to be the highest-ranking person present, and everyone fell silent as soon as he spoke. Yan Lanmin said in a whisper: "Old man, the little nephew is really helpless, these days the little nephew's salt shop business has plummeted, and the little nephew almost turned his hair white, but there is no way at all, otherwise the little nephew and others will not bother your old man on this good day today." ”

"Humph!"

Old Man He sneered: "Is there really no way? Or do you not dare to think about it? ”

"Don't dare to think about it?" Everyone was slightly shocked, and Wei Wenbao asked cautiously: "Old man He, what do you mean?" ”

Old Man He glanced at Wei Wenbao: "Nephew Wei Xian, everyone says that you are the most outstanding and courageous person in the Wei family's generation, but today the old man didn't see this." Or are you deliberately playing dumb? ”

Wei Wenbao's face was terrified: "My nephew doesn't dare!" ”

Old Man He said disdainfully: "The old man doesn't know the good things you do one by one on weekdays, who of you hasn't done murder and arson?" Now that the matter is coming to an end, what else can the old man say? ”

As soon as these words came out, the faces of the people present turned a little red, killing people and setting fires also depends on the person, they naturally have no taboos against those powerless small traders or those mud legs, but this time they have to face Jiang Ningbo, who is in the Ming Dynasty, and they naturally dare not do it as before.

Seeing the appearance of everyone, Old Man He snorted coldly in his heart. It is never an exaggeration to describe the old man who is sixty, he naturally knows what these people are thinking in their hearts, it is nothing more than wanting to encourage themselves to come out, and then follow behind the ass to wave the flag or pick up the cheap, but this matter can not be ignored, after all, his salt shop is the most in Yangzhou City, and he is also the most affected, so he should naturally take the lead by himself.

After coughing lightly, he sat up straight, looked at everyone, and said lightly: "Although the Royal Commercial Bank has Jiang Ningbo's background, it is only a Commercial House anyway, which is also his innate disadvantage. We might as well do both here, and then we should ...... like this."

Daming Royal Commercial Bank has a total of eight stores in Yangzhou, the largest of which is located in the most prosperous Hongyun Street in the west of the city, covering an area of more than 500 square meters.

Since the opening of the salt shop ten days ago, the business of the shop can no longer be described as prosperous, for ten days, the people who buy salt are lined up outside the street, which is enough to prove the popularity of their business, and in order to prevent local competitors from hiring people to sweep the goods, the cattle shopkeeper also specially stipulates that each person can only buy one pound of salt per day, but even this cannot stop the madness of the people. The refined salt of three coins of silver, they don't even say that they have seen it, they have never even heard of it.

In just ten days, this shop on this street alone earned more than three thousand six hundred taels of silver, and when the cattle shopkeeper saw the report sent by the man below, he only felt that his hands were trembling. The Royal Commercial Bank has a total of eight stores in Yangzhou, and with such a turnover, their turnover in Yangzhou alone in the past ten days alone has more than 20,000 taels of silver. How much can you earn in a month? How much can you earn in a year? And this is only earned in Yangzhou, if you add the shops in other state capitals, the silver earned by the Daming Royal Commercial Bank in a year will go to the sea.

Thinking of this, the shopkeeper Niu did not feel excitement in his heart, but felt a coldness surging up his spine.

The cattle shopkeeper naturally didn't think that he made too much money, but the first thing he thought of was the reflection of the major salt merchants in Yangzhou, and it was no longer as simple as robbing business that he was doing, but digging the roots of those salt merchants. This is a question he thinks about with his knees and knows it is impossible.

As time went by, the shopkeeper became more and more worried, and in recent days he was so worried that he couldn't sleep.

That night, the cattle shopkeeper, who had been tossing and turning for most of the night, had just fallen asleep, and in a daze, he seemed to hear someone whispering outside, and he woke up immediately after sleeping very vigilantly, and he just wanted to get up and smelled a smell of kerosene, and then he saw a flame burning outside.

The cow shopkeeper's heart immediately sank to the bottom, and he immediately shouted without thinking: "It's not good...... Someone is setting fire...... Colt...... Erbao, hurry up and put out the fire! ”

The reaction of the cattle shopkeeper was not unpleasant, but he only shouted a few times, the flames outside had engulfed the entire store, and it was not until the next day that the government officials were late, and when the officials were cleaning up the ruins, in addition to finding the bodies of the three men, they also found the dying cow shopkeeper in the large water tank of the store.

"Lawlessness...... It's just lawless......"

In the imperial study, Zhu Youxiao's face turned red with anger, and although Yang Feng, who was sitting next to him, still looked calm, those who were familiar with him could find that familiar murderous aura from the corners of his eyes.

"Yang Aiqing, what do you say should be done about this?" Zhu Youxiao is really angry with him, the importance of the Daming Royal Commercial Bank to him is self-evident now, but now someone wants to attack his money bag, this is a slap in the face!